Better to light a single candle – Leadership Skills Article

My brother would often say to me: “better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.”

And with the darkness of COVID consuming so much of our lives in Australia right now, we need to look for those candles, however small they flicker.

On a personal note, my son Abe is an actor, a performer. He does it because he loves it. How could he do anything else?

Yet the last almost two years have been tumultuous for him.

In 2020, he was touring with the Monty Python show Spamalot, and that was cancelled because of Covid.

This year, he was touring the beautiful musical ONCE. Another show cancelled due to COVID. 

How does he keep going?

What is the candle for The dancers, the actors, the musos, the bands? Where is their light when they’re not performing?

Their candle is “The Ghost Light”. It’s a tradition to keep a small light or floor lamp of some sort that shines on the stage when the theatre is unoccupied or “dark”.

On a logical level, it’s for safety. On a spiritual or soul level, it’s so much more.

Some say it’s because of the ghosts in theatre. Some because of the many emotions that have been triggered in that space, that we need to remind ourselves of our own illumination.

Light through the ages has always represented a sense of hope, clarity and possibilities. i.e. “Light at the end of the tunnel”, “Shine a light on the situation”. 

And we all need “light” right now. 

The ghost light is their tradition. It bonds the performers together. A single act of fellowship which says we will be back, we don’t know when or how, but we will be back!

What would our lives be without the theatre, the songs, the plays, the entertainment? I miss it so much!

But, they will be back. They do it cause they love it. But they do it for you too. To make you smile, to make you laugh, to make you cry, to remind you of your own humanity.

And as we all know, they’re not the only ones affected by this. 

Please, please, support those who need it when they are finally back at it, whatever their “it” may be.

And you’ll be back as well. Not to your old self. It will be a different one.

One that appreciates the little things more than you ever did. One that is possibly now more tolerant, more kind, more compassionate.

Please keep hold of this candle throughout COVID. And help those whose candle may need relighting. 

So what’s the ghost light for you? What’s the ghost light for your team, your organisation?

“Better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness”

 Until next time…

Find the passion.
Develop the skills.
Make the numbers.
Make a difference.

Paul Mitchell
“APAC’s most respected transformational leadership performance coach”

Paul Mitchell (@Paul_S_Mitchell) is a speaker, author, transformational leadership coach and founder of the human enterprise. Through leadership coaching, leadership development programmes, keynotes and facilitation, Paul works with organisations to build cultures where everybody leads.